Temple of Artemis Propylaia and Poseidon Pater
Eleusis, Attica, Greece
1st century CE
The temple of Artemis Propylaea (“before the gate”) and Poseidon Pater (”the father”) was an Amphiprostyle temple outside the enclosure wall of the sanctuary of Demeter and Kore. It had front and rear porticoes with four Doric columns at each end, and a cella opening southeast onto a pronaos, and was situated on a high podium in a spacious marble-clad court. Artemis was worshipped at Eleusis as the daughter of Demeter and Poseidon. The temple was built during the reign of Marcus Aurelius from Pentelic marble. Here the mystai (followers of the Eleusian Mysteries) gathered to undergo the cleansing rites which were mandatory before entering the sanctuary itself.
Around the Temple and the forecourt was an L-shaped stoa with 6 rooms.
Note: some of the reconstructions show an Antae temple - that the temple was previously thought to be.
